Packaging means



' Nov. 16, 1965 F. w. WEISS 3,217,962

PACKAGING MEANS Filed June 22, 1964 A 2 F, 32;: QXQZA' I INVENTOR.

Ht? :3 FRANKLIN W. WEISS ATTORNE).

United States Patent Ofiice 3,217,962 Patented Nov. 16, 1965 3,217,962 PACKAGING MEANS Franklin W. Weiss, Longmeadow, Mass., assignor to Plastic Packaging Corporation, Chicopee, Mass. Filed June 22, 1964, Ser. No. 376,713 2 Claims. (Cl. 229-) The present invention relates generally to new and useful improvements and structural refinements in packaging devices or receptacle structures and is directed more particularly to a form-adapting material type of container or package and to improvements in means for protecting and cushioning fragile articles of generally spherical configuration, such as oranges, tomatoes or the like during the transit, handling, storage or display thereof by means of compartmentation.

It will be helpful to an understanding of my invention first to briefly consider some of the essential points and more important features and aspects thereof, so that same may be kept in mind during subsequent reading of the detailed description of the practical embodiment of my improvements and illustration thereof in the hereunto annexed drawing.

It is first to be noted that the invention envisions the provision of a light-weight, form-adapting, tray-like, packaging device, which may be utilized to advantage as a shock-absorbing and cushioning means to protect fragile 'or easily scratched, bruised, or otherwise damaged articles during their handling, storage, shipment and/ or display, and which will be a strong, rigid, self-supporting receptacle forming pluralistic, crush-proof article-receiving spaces for housing, displaying and packaging sundry articles of use which require crush-proof receiving space.

Stated in another way, the invention relates to containers and it is primarily within the contemplation hereof to provide a form of package in which a pair of lines of fruit units will be firmly supported within a tray by a central beam structure to eliminate the danger of the fruits coming into engagement with an underlying table or conveyor upon which the package may be placed. And it is further within our contemplation to provide the tray with a plurality of centrally supported flexible arms that will provide yieldable supporting means along portions of the fruit units or other spherical articles disposed laterally of the central supporting beam, whereby units of slightly varying sizes may be adequately supported with a minimum amount of structural material, thereby to present a tray that is economical in its manufacture.

It is also an important object of this invention to pro: vide a completely wrapped package wherein the said tray is on component, another being a flexible wrapping of cellophane or other conventional enrobing material providing a securely packed device.

Another object "of this invention is to provide improved packaging; which packaging is of the multi-compartmented type and particularly adapted for attractive, yet sanitary packaging of foodstuffs and the like. It is another object of the invention to provide a compartmented, fully visible contact package for maintaining the contents thereof clean and essentially sanitary.

It is another object to provide tray-like packing units for packing generally spherical articles which will afford maximum protection to said articles through their shock and vibration-absorbing function, while allowing complete visibility of said articles to permit the easy identification, inspection and attractive display thereof.

It is another object of the invention herein to provide a receptacle capable of surrounding, protecting and displaying articles of types requiring such protection as above mentioned and which receptacle is capable of being opened and then reused as a supporting tray or discarded after the particular items contained therewithin are withdrawn.

Another object is to provide a means whereby a plurality of items contained within the receptacle can be so combined as to be capable of distribution within a unitary package.

Another object of the invention resides in the provision of a receptacle which may readily be manufactured by automatic machinery and so that the receptacle may be marketed at a low price, the device embodying a rugged structure which will assure the consumer that the item within the package is in unbent or uncrushed condition.

Briefly, in its embodiment, a package according to the concepts of this invention is comprised of a one-piece, transparent, self-sustaining plastic member formed into a plurality of opposed, substantially hemispherical indentations side-by-side spheroidal cavities.

The existing practices in the trade, as exemplified by the known prior art, involving the use of shredded paper, excelsior, or similar padding material to protect fragile or easily bruised articles or the use of cardboard or paper trays for article display. These have certain obvious objections in that they fail to afford complete protection to the article being shipped, are generally not fully dustproof and completely sanitary, and do not lend them selves either to attractive display or to complete visibility of the articles Within the package. Too, such padding material and/ or trays frequently contaminate the articles with which they are associated and may tend to become fragmented, dispersed, and soiled. Repeated use is made diflicult, if not impossible, thereby involving added ex pense to the packaging and/or shipping and storage operations.

In contradistinction, I have devised a novel means whereby such difficulties and objections are overcome by the provision of a packaging unit which possesses such inherent strength and rigidity as to be self-supporting and to support adequately articles enveloped thereby while permitting visual inspection of the articles, all so as to provide means for combining attractive display appearance for sales appeal with sanitation and protection of the contained articles from contamination.

These foregoing objects and other incidental ends and advantages will in part be obvious and apparent and will in part be more fully pointed out as the nature of the invention is better understood in the progress of the appended disclosure.

It will be apparent that the physical embodiment de lineated, albeit the preferred exemplification, is only in dica-tive of but one of the multiplicity of ways in and purposes for which the principles of the invention may be employed. Same is submitted as a best known embodi ment of the invention in accordance with the patent statutes and is given with a view to illustrating and explaining the precise nature of the principles of the invention and its practical use, in order that others skilled in the art may be enabled to adapt and modify it in other variations and modifications, each as may be best adapted to the conditions of any particular use.

The invention is not restricted or confined to said embodiment, and same is not intended to be exhaustive of, nor limiting of, the spirit or scope hereof. That is, the precise construction of the figures of the drawing need not be slavishly followed as, of course, the packaging material may have to be adapted or alternatively constructed or modified in accordance with any specific use contemplated therefor. Such adaptations and/ or alternative constructions and/0r modifications are intended to be comprehended within the meaning and purview and range of equivalence of the below subjoined claims.

The objects of the invention are susceptible of attainment by use of constructions different in certain respects from that disclosed, involving changes and variations in dimension, shape, form, proportion, and integration and cooperation of material, all without departing from the underlying principles, salient features, scope and spirit hereof.

The characteristic features which I consider to be novel with my invention will be better understood from a consideration of the following detailed description forming a part of this specification, when read in conjunction with the accompanying drawing in which:

FIG. 1 is a top plan view of a package embodying the invention;

FIG. 2 is an elevational view of the package of FIG. 1 showing the manner of disposition of spherical articles therein;

FIG. 3 is an enlarged fragmentary and elevational view of one of the connecting webs of the package; and

FIG. 4 is an enlarged sectional view taken on the line 44 of FIG. 1.

In the following description and in the appended claims, various components and details thereof will be identified by specific names for purposes of convenience. Although specific terms and expressions are employed for purposes of identifying various components, they are used in a generic and descriptive sense only. They are not intended to exclude any reasonable equivalents of the features shown and described or portions thereof.

With continued reference now to the drawing, which illustrates a typical and preferred embodiment of the invention for the purpose of disclosure and forms a part of this specification, I have shown a one-piece tray-like receptacle or package preferably formed from a suitable plastic such as acetate, vinyl, styrenes, polyethylene, polyvinylchloride, polypropylene or equivalent. The specific chemical nature of the material is no part of the invention although it should be understood that the material utilized is preferentially one which may be formed into the desired shape by any conventional plastic molding process and one which will permit its use in the formation of receptacles suitable for carrying articles of food for human consumption and will possess sufficient strength and pliability to retain its shape despite repeated handling.

The tray-like receptacle of the invention is constituted by a frame with a multiplicity of juxtaposed compartments or cells, generally indicated by 10, of substantially hemispherical configuration. The frame forms a crushproof receptacle and the compartments or cells are formed from a network of plastic bridging webs 0r lands or beams subsequently to be defined in manner so that they are separated from one another by means of the webs which are longitudinally and transversely arranged, the webs or ribs being brought together at their intersecting or bridging points to be held securely in contact with each other, and with all webs of the network being interconnected by an integrally related uppermost continuous enclosing rim.

Said enclosing rim comprises a substantially vertically disposed inner wall 12 so configured as to follow a portion of the outer contour of a spherical article to be placed within a cell of the receptacle and an upper horizontallydisposed rail or wall 14 connected at its inner edge to wall 12 and having a peripheral flange 16 depending from its outer edge. This construction of the rail imparts strength and rigidity to the formed receptacle.

The plastic webs or ribs form a network defining bottom, side and end walls for the receptacle and include intersecting central webs or beams or bars 18 and 2% disposed on the transverse and longitudinal axes of the receptacle respectively, reinforced by a central hub 22 at their point of intersection and curved upwardly at their outer ends so as to terminate in the plane of wall 14 of the rim to which they are joined.

The remaining webs or ribs in the network emanate from and are supported by central webs 18 and 20 and include a pair of spaced parallel transversely-extending webs 24 disposed one on each side of central web 18 and intersecting with central web 20. Each web 24- is curved upwardly at its opposite outer ends to terminate in the plane of wall 14 of the rim to which they are joined.

A pair of generally arcuate webs 26 are disposed one on each side of central web 20 and each extends longitudinally between the pair of webs 24 and intersects centrally of its length with central web 18.

Pairs of webs 28 are provided to extend radially outwardly from the point of jointure of each web 24 with central web 20. Webs 28 of a pair are disposed one on each side of central web 20, each said web 28 being curved upwardly at its outer end to terminate in the plane of wall 14 of the rim to which it is joined.

The network is completed by arcuately configured webs 30, of which there are four in number, each intersecting one of the webs 28, and each being curved upwardly at one of its ends to terminate in the plane of wall 14 of the rim at the points of jointure of central web 20 with the latter and curved upwardly at its opposite end to terminate in the plane of wall 14 of the rim at the points of jointure of each of the webs 24 with wall 12.

These last mentioned points of jointure are reinforced, as at 32, and are dimpled inwardly as at 34, as best seen in FIG. 3, to provide added strength and rigidity to the receptacle sides and ends.

The rim and integral network of webs form a strong, light-weight, resilient tray-like means for receiving and holding substantially spherical articles, permitting all sides of the articles contained therewithin to be visually inspected.

Thus there is formed a plurality of cell-like hemispherically-shaped seats on each side of the central longitudimany-extending web or beam or bar 20, the said seat having, in plan view, a substantially X-shaped configuration with each of web members defining same serving as arms which curve upwardly from the juncture point where they intersect each other to a predetermined upper level in a plane coincident with the plane defined by the wall 14, said webs or arms being somewhat flexible so as to yield slightly under the weight of a supported item.

In operatively employing the tray a plurality of fruit units are placed upon said cell-like seating members, the respective webs thereof embracing the sides of the respective fruit unit.

The weight of the fruit unit will be such as to cause a slight downward displacement of the webs from their normal positions when the tray is in the non-loaded condition.

In the loaded position, the lateral sides of the fruit units may be in engagement with the upper rail or wall 14, and since said rail or wall is supported only at its juncture with the webs extending to the central webs 18 and 20, the rail or wall 14 will bend slightly at its unsupported positions in manner to embrace slightly and yieldingly support the fruit units and adjust to slight variations in sizes thereof.

In the fabrication of the package hereof, it will be understood that the thickness of the material to be employed, the diameter of the cells, the length and width of the webs or ribs between the cells and the number of the cells, will be determined by the number, weight, dimensions and any peculiar characteristics of the articles to be packaged. For example, while the package illustrated will accept six of the spherical articles S, which may be oranges, apples pears, tomatoes or the like, the package can be so formed as to accept a greater or lesser number of such articles.

It will also be noted that the contour of the rail and the curvature of the webs produce the aforementioned individual cells or compartments whereby each of the articles S is firmly held in its respective individualized compartment thereby precluding any unwanted movement of the articles within a package during handling and virtually obviating the possibility of bruising or damaging the articles contained therein.

As shown in FIG. 2, after the fruit units are placed on the said seating members, the entire device is enrobed by a transparent flexible wrapping W, the method of wrapping being by means well known to those skilled in the art, either manually or mechanically. The wrapping is so proportioned as to form at the opposite ends of the tray two overlapping portions, and also overlipping marginal portions along the underside of the tray, below the beam member 20. The said wrapping is made of known material of such properties that contacting portions can readily be secured together by heat and pressure means well known to those skilled in the art. When the said overlapping portions are brought against a wall of the tray by conventional heating and pressure dies, such portions will adhere to each other, and cause a sealing of the wrapping at such adhesively secured portions.

Thus, the pack-age and the articles therein may optionally be wrapped with a transparent film or cellophane wrap to protect the articles from dust, insects and the like, and to preclude unwanted removal of the articles from the package, accidentally or otherwise.

This type of container or receptacle is especially desirable for use in todays self-service food markets where items are individually packaged for quick and easy handling by the customer himself.

It is to be stressed that central webs 18 and 20 are so formed as to allow longitudinally-extending arch constructions between the respective ends of each whereby to produce light-weight structural components which will not bend under the weight of the supported fruit units.

It is believed that the gist of the invention will be clearly understood from the foregoing disclosure and accordingly, further analysis thereof at this point is considered unnecessary, as I have, in accordance with the provisions of the patent statutes, described the construction and principle of operation of my invention together with the apparatus which I believe to represent the best embodiment thereof, to the end that others can, by applying current knowledge, readily adapt it for various applications without omitting features which, from the standpoint of prior art, fairly constitute essential characteristics of its generic and/ or specific aspects. The substitution of equivalents and other changes, modifications and alterations as circumstances may suggest or render expedient, are reasonably contemplated, the invention being susceptible of such without departing from its real spirit of underlying principles.

The protection which is sought for this invention is covered by the language of the above specification and the spirit represented thereby.

The claims are desired to include to include within the scope thereof all of said suitable variations, modifications and equivalents by which substantially the results of the invention may be obtained through the use of substantially the same or equivalent devices or means. Accordingly, limitation hereof should only be made as determined by a proper interpretation of the prior art and the scope of the subjoined claims, in which it is my intention to claim all novelty inherent herein as broadly as possible.

I therefore particularly point out and distinctly claim as my invention:

1. A receptacle for substantially spherical articles comprising, an open network of interconnected plastic webs defining bottom and side and end walls, an uppermost rim including an inner wall connecting between and joined to the outer extremities of each of the webs of said network, the points of jointure between certain of the webs of said network and said uppermost rim being reinforced, said uppermost rim and the webs of said network being so configured as to define a plurality of substantially hemispherical cells within the receptacle for receipt therein of substantially spherical articles.

2. I a molded container tray of the type having longitudinal and transverse axes and adapted to constitute a part of a wrapped housing for a plurality of substantially spherical articles, the combination of, an open network of arcuate bridging webs interconnected by intersecting arcuate central webs disposed on the transverse and 1ongitudinal axes, the bridging and central webs of said network defining bottom and side end end walls, an upper rim including an inwardly facing and an upwardly facing peripheral wall, the inwardly facing wall of said upper rim joined at reinfonced jointures to the outer extremities of each of the bridging and central webs of said network.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 8/1954 Murphy et al 206-45.33 6/1963 Schmidt 229-25 

1. A RECEPTACLE FOR SUBSTANTIALLY SPHERICAL ARTICLES COMPRISING, AN OPEN NETWORK OF INTERCONNECTED PLASTIC WEBS DEFINING BOTTOM AND SIDE AND END WALLS, AND UPPERMOST RIM INCLUDING AN INNER WALL CONNECTING BETWEEN AND JOINED TO THE OUTER EXTREMITIES OF EACH OF THE WEBS OF SAID NETWORK, THE POINTS OF JOINTURE BETWEEN CERTAIN OF THE WEBS OF SAID NETWORK AND SAID UPPERMOST RIM BEING REINFORCED, SAID UPPERMOST RIM AND THE WEBS OF SAID NETWORK BEING SO CONFIGURED AS TO DEFINE A PLURALITY OF SUBSTANTIALLY HEMSPHERICAL CELLS WITHIN THE RECEPTACLE FOR RECEIPT THEREIN OF SUBSTANTIALLY SPHERICAL ARTICLES. 